A Yellow Jacket's Road To 200
By: Matt Sowell | Categories: Alumni Achievements
Yellow Jackets have a unique style of grit and determination. Perhaps no one exemplifies this quite like Michael Hearn, Mgt 86, a Tech grad with a goal he is well on the way toconquering.
“I’m going to run a half marathon in every state by the time I turn 65,” he says. Anyone who knows Hearn will agree: He’ll accomplish it.
For the last three years, he’s built his life around running and lost 200 pounds in the process. As he prepared to complete his 35th race on February 4, it’s clear he’s changed his life for the better.
Before beginning his journey, Hearn weighed around 450 pounds. “You see TV shows with people who weigh 600 pounds, and you think, ‘I don’t look like that.’ And then you see pictures of yourself, and you realize I’m starting to look like that,” he says.
Hearn began thinking about his health as he planned to return to Georgia Tech’s campus for his son’s graduation. He knew the physical demands of the day could be a potential issue—even walking from the parking lot to the stadium would be taxing.
Additionally, Hearn’s doctor warned him that he was on a dangerous road. Hearn says that he believes the type of person who attends Tech could also be the type who ends up in a situation like this. “We think we’ll do something about it when we decide to. Smart people make the worst medical patients because we believe we’re in complete control,” he says.
Perhaps the biggest turning point was when Hearn’s doctor mistook a shadow on his heart from the weight as damage from a heart attack. He says he remembers his doctor standing over him when he woke up and saying, “You have no idea how lucky you are.”
Hearn decided to overhaul his life. He began with bariatric surgery, a decision that initially intimidated him. “I felt like I’d failed,” he says. “My doctor reminded me that obesity ran in my family. He said I had to give myself the chance to lose weight, and this was the starting point.” The challenge, he explained, would be to maintain it.
Hearn prioritized running, first with a 5K with the Atlanta Track Club, with a plan to walk the course. “I finished it. And I remember when I finished it, I felt pumped up and thought, this is great. I decided I would sign up for a couple more. And then suddenly, the pandemic hits, and the races stopped.”
The obstacles made him even more determined. Hearn attributes his grit to his time at Tech. He says he learned how to push himself past what he believed his limits were. “We pushed ourselves as students, and we have pushed ourselves to build our careers. And you learn that there are so many cases in your life where the constraints that you have are the ones that you put on yourself.”
By the end of the year, Hearn was preparing for the 5K portion of the Atlanta Track Club PNC 10 Miler, which was being held with Covid precautions in place. The race gave him the motivation to go farther, work harder, and run rather than walk.
Three miles became 10, which became half marathons. Along his journey, Hearn has been featured in Men’s Health magazine and served as an ambassador for the Atlanta Track Club. He found his passion, and there was no going back. He explains that an unintended perk of running has been the clarity it gives him.
“I discovered it wasn’t just about the exercise, it was about the fact that it created whitespace for me, and it gave me a chance to be able to plan things, to organize things. It was a chance to think,” he says.
It’s clear that Hearn’s family also drives his passion for running.
“I’ve done two half marathons with my daughter and one with my son. It’s hard to describe how it feels to be able to run with your family, particularly your kids, because they’ve spent years seeing you as the person who’s not going to go out and exercise,” Hearn says. “Then one day you’re able to go out and enjoy something like that with them. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to do that.”
Running takes a toll both physically and mentally. Find some wise words below that Hearn picked up on his road to 200:
Find a Way to Love Yourself. Hearn says this was his mantra early on. He stresses the importance of finding something that you love, pursuing it, and not letting anyone get in the way.
Don’t Call It Work. Whatever you pursue has to be a passion or something you use to get away from the grind, he says.
Get Through the First Mile. “I can’t tell you how excited I get when I hit mile No. 1 on a race, because I have registered for the race, traveled, got my bib, made it to the starting line, and have gone a mile,” says Hearn.
Never Make a Decision Going Uphill. “There have been many times I would go uphill and think I’m done, I just want to stop. And then I would realize, okay, don’t make any decisions until you get on the downhill. And then you get on the downhill. You feel better. You keep going,” he says.
